Texas A&M’s top-ranked men’s and women’s track and field teams will attempt to defend their NCAA championships starting today at Hayward Field on the U. Oregon campus.
The Aggies will make their second trip to the venue this year, after competing in the Pepsi Team Invitational in April. Both teams finished second to Oregon, the home team.
“It’s a venue that includes fans who are very educated track people,” Texas A&M Head Coach Pat Henry said. “While they love their home team, which creates a nice environment for Oregon, they also understand great performances. When someone is doing something that is outstanding, they also cheer for other teams.”
Oregon, however, is not merely a host. The women’s team is ranked second in the country, with the men holding down the No. 3 spot behind the Aggies and the Florida Gators, who won the NCAA Indoor meet. Florida’s women are ranked seventh in the USTFCCCA rankings. The Oregon women took first place in the NCAA Indoor championships, with the men tying Texas A&M for second place.
The three teams are the three front runners, according to Track & Field News. The magazine predicts a Texas A&M victory over Oregon on the women’s side, and Florida on top for the men, with Texas A&M finishing second.
“Every once in a while, if you do everything right, you have the potential to win a national championship like this,” Henry said. “This is that type of group.”
“We think we have the potential to be in the top three to four schools. We just need to have a good day on the same day. We are in good shape right now.”
The Aggies will have 28 athletes (13 men and 15 women) make the trip to Eugene, including alternates for relays. Texas A&M will have 37 entries – 16 men’s and 21 women’s events.
In last year’s national championship meet, the Aggies took home the titles despite only winning two events – Porscha Lucas won the 200 meter sprint, and the women’s 4×100 relay took first.
“If you look at last year’s meet, we didn’t win that many events, but we had people who were scoring in events,” Henry said. “This is a little different dynamic this year. I think that we have the potential of some people being absolute event winners. We will still need to have others step up and contribute points from fourth, fifth and sixth places.”
Lucas will try to defend her title, but will be facing off with teammate Jeneba Tarmoh, who took the 200 meters crown with a time of 22.65 in the Big 12 Title meet.
Tarmoh will also compete with Lucas and Gabby Mayo in the 100 meter sprint. Mayo is also in contention in the 100 meter hurdles with a career-best time of 12.81 seconds.
Jessica Beard, who took second place in the 400 meter last year, returns to the event with five other strong contenders at the top.
For the men, Curtis Mitchell carries a 12-race winning-streak into Oregon in the 200 meters. Mitchell was the Indoor Champion for the 200 meters as well.
Tabarie Henry, Bryan Miller and Demetrius Pinder will be competing in the 400-dash. Pinder had the top qualifying time in the NCAA preliminary rounds (44.93), while Henry placed fourth in the World Championship 400 last summer in Berlin. Miller raced in last year’s NCAA final, finishing eighth.
The Aggie men will also be trying to finally take first place in the 4×400 meter relay, after taking the silver medal the last three years. The relay has won the Big 12 Indoor, NCAA Indoor, Texas Relays and Big 12 Outdoors.
“That championship was a tremendous feat for us and was a great, great championship for us,” Henry said. “But this is a new group of young people, where we have some people who have been there before and some who will be in this meet for the first time. While the makeup is different, we hope the attitude is the same.”